Environment Variable Limit (50) in AWS App Runner — Any Way to Increase?

Question

Hi AWS Team,

I’m using AWS App Runner and have run into a hard limit of 50 environment variables. Once this limit is reached, the “Add variable” button disappears from the console.

In my use case, each environment variable corresponds to a separate configuration value that my app needs. I previously used ECS with a .env file stored in S3, but now I’m migrating the setup to App Runner.

My current requirement involves more than 80 configuration values. Could you please advise:

Is it possible to increase the environment variable limit in App Runner?

Or what’s the best practice for managing more than 50 variables when using App Runner?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Kidd Ip · Answer

How about considering AWS AppConfig for Centralized Config Management:

* Store configurations centrally in AppConfig.
* Fetch and apply them within your App Runner service as needed.

Taz · Answer

Hey,

Hope you're keeping well.

The 50 environment variable limit in AWS App Runner is a hard service limit and cannot be increased. For workloads needing more configuration values, the common approach is to store them centrally in **AWS Secrets Manager**, **AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store**, or **AWS AppConfig**, then load them at runtime during application startup. This keeps the App Runner environment clean and avoids hitting the console limit. For example, you can store a JSON object with all config values in Parameter Store and fetch it using the AWS SDK in your code before serving requests. This pattern also improves security by keeping sensitive values out of the service definition.

Thanks and regards,  
Taz

Environment Variable Limit (50) in AWS App Runner — Any Way to Increase?

Add your answer

Relevant content